A Digital Graveyard, a Virtual Memorial or a Living Legacy?

The content discusses the concept of digital immortality and its implications on human mortality and grief. It highlights that a verbal contract would be considered worthy of honour or respect, but there is no moral obligation for survivors to agree with the deceased's view before death. The article also mentions the idea of creating a 'digital graveyard' as a means of preserving memories and honoring the dead.

SCHOOL OF COMPUTING AND MATHS, Charles Sturt University
AI, Death, and Mourning
Assignment 3: Applying Ethical Theory
Tamara Martin
11669695
Word Count:

AI, Death, and Mourning
1. Introduction
In this essay, four classical ethical theories are discussed and analysed from Santa Clara
University’s; AI, Death, and Mourning, An Ethics Case Study dated 25th January 2018. Artificial
intelligence is playing a role in death and mourning. With human interaction, artificial
intelligence and grief-stricken survivors are continuing the bond and interacting with the dead as
digital zombies well after they are gone (Klass, 2006, p.844, paras. 1-3).
2. Utilitarianism Theory
Utilitarianism focuses on results, and our actions are consequence-based. Intentions are
treated as irrelevant. The moral theory is based on results about pleasure and happiness. The
outcome of the results is based on the greatest good and the greatest number of people.
(Crashcourse, 2016, November 21).
As sad as death is, there is no pleasure or happiness for when a loved one has died. However,
continuing a bond online when a loved one has passed may provide pleasure, happiness and
comfort for the survivors, being the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The internal
process that humans experience after death is known as a “continuing bond”. There can be a
happiness and pleasure to continue the connection shortly after the person is physically gone. As
Moller (2005) stated, most people demonstrated resilience in the face of loss; although
traumatised, they recover with little long-term stress (p.302). During the period of loss and
recovery, a griefbot can assist in the recovery of the survivors.
A griefbot is an innovative step in assisting a survivor through the grieving process:
 Firstly, the psychological ability of the survivor to say things they never had the
chance to speak.
 Secondly, the survivor may not be able to visit the gravesite due to a disability or
fragile state.
 Thirdly, the griefbot can be right by their side instead of standing by a gravesite
and having a chat with a headstone.
Although this is innovative, the older generation, pre-1980 is more difficult to convince and
might also have difficulty learning to use and communicate with the griefbots (Wandke, Sengpiel
& Sonksen, 2012, p. 566, para. 2).
Beyond the 1980 generation, acceptance of griefbots is a part of the advances in technology.
In a virtual world of family members who have passed, its perceived usefulness in grief and
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idiosyncrasies of the individual’s virtual return provide an emotional companion for survivors
24/7 to talk to and reminisce for their own sake of happiness (Barnes, 2011, p. 314, para. 10).
3. Deontology Theory
Deontology theory also known as duty ethics is based on moral acts; right or wrong. In
principle, humans have a duty or obligation to one another no matter what the circumstances
(Tavani, 2015, p. 47, para 6). Humans are rational beings, and it is considered wrong to bring a
person virtually back from the dead regardless of permission or not. The virtual person may
impact the survivor in many ways:
 Firstly, the data collected to return the person from the dead may provide new
information, interpretations or revelations. The collection of the data could change the
way a loved one previously viewed the deceased person, based on information they were
not already privileged too.
 Secondly, the mental health of the survivor and the implications of bringing the deceased
back or the mental health issues of the dead. As Scalzone and Tamburrini (2013) stated,
mental states could be signatures that can be translated into specific control commands (p.
300).
 Thirdly, the survivor can be consumed by something that was once real. For example, the
survivor’s psychological health in becoming withdrawn from real social interactions and
events with other family and friend survivors.
Deontological theory may not be possible for griefbots and survivors. Unless everyone is
willing to bring back the dead, tell the truth and keep promises the rule of deontological theory is
compromised. When does the act of developing and actively using griefbots become the
responsibility of humanity and when can it be properly attributed? (Jebari, 2016, p. 215, para. 2).
The deontological act may be appropriate when analysing the benefits of an individual’s situation.
For example, in this individual’s case, if a surviving mother lost her daughter and there were no
other surviving family members, the psychological assistance of the griefbots may prevent
loneliness and suicidal thoughts and behaviour. It is an obligation to reduce and prevent the loss
of life especially the mother during the period of grief.
4. Virtue Theory
Virtue theory is the focus of being of good character. Good character is a balance of:
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 Doing the right thing,
 At the right time,
 In the right way,
 In the right amount,
 Towards the right people (Crashcourse, 2016, December 05).
For a griefbot to become virtuous, it requires learning abilities only to bring back the right
character traits of the deceased individual. The good character traits may be many or very little
depending on the individual. Discovering these traits using self-created obituaries, bring the
succinct and explicit content of the decease’s life. The obituaries tend to include features that the
author finds salient for themselves as well as relatives or friends and signals the socially-
recognised community aspects of the deceased’s real character (Alfano, Higgins, & Levernier,
2018, pg. 61). In communicating with the dead, only choosing a good character and good habits
may limit conversations and provide a false sense of the crafted individual and lack idiosyncrasies
of the dead to survivors.
The development of griefbots could emulate the deceases virtues using data, and their own
created obituaries; however, should the griefbots only target the virtue data and nothing else?
Moral virtues of human beings are developed and acquired from training and good habits (Tavani,
2015, p. 54, para 2). The learning and investigating of the deceased’s cultural background, social
surroundings, personal video memories and pictures to obtain these defined habits offer the
promise of immortality for a digital afterlife. The terminally ill are discovering these
opportunities, signing up for a digital afterlife. It can be empowering, they are filling up their
digital memory boxes in hope they will never be forgotten and live on. (Bassett, 2015, p. 1134,
para. 2).
From the perspective of the survivor, the human-computer interaction with the griefbots may
advance the griefbots moral virtues by self-learning. The griefbot will learn by survivors
reminiscing specific events that display the good habits of the deceased “thus enabling the
deceased to be socially active” and revealing the good character traits the survivors enjoyed
(Bassett, 2015, p. 1135, para. 1).
5. Contract Theory
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Contract theory also known as contractarianism is an agreement that implies obligation. For
example, if you take from the common pot by driving and enjoying the roads that the system
provides, the expectation is to abide by the road rules (Crashcourse. 2016, November 28).
Firstly, human dignity is “the state or quality of being worthy of honour or respect”
(“Dignity,” n.d.). The contracts with a griefbots organisation for a digital afterlife would require
explicit stipulation in the deceased’s will as a digital asset. The will may require specific terms
and conditions, timelines, even specific events that the deceased may not want to be relived for
family and friends sake. Therefore, a specific view of the deceased is not revealed. For example,
erasure of the husband cheating on the wife in 2006 or a jail term for break and enter in 1995.
Wills can be modified; however, artificial intelligence can be a challenge with human interaction
“the real challenge is to integrate them all into a functional control system able to develop human-
level intelligence and human-like behaviour” (Llargues Asensio et al., 2014, p. 7283, para. 8). For
the intelligence and behaviour to be emulated, the contract could stipulate specific character traits,
e.g. fun, generous, optimist. The particular activities/ circumstances or character traits are to
remain in or out of the afterlife contract as a decision before death. Unfortunately, this end is not
always known.
Secondly, a verbal agreement may also be made with family or friends. A general discussion
regarding the topics of griefbots brings forward the persons thoughts regarding the digital
afterlife. They may explicitly state they do not appreciate a digital zombie of themselves. A verbal
contract would be considered worthy of honour or respect; however, the survivors have no moral
obligation to agree with the person’s view before death. If the deceased had no written contract
for a digital afterlife, there is no moral obligation for survivors to agree. The survivors may
request a griefbot for their own sake, a digital immortality for ansentrial family history and create
a “digital graveyard” (Öhman & Floridi, 2017, p. 640, para.1).
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6. Conclusion
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References
Alfano, M., Higgins, A., & Levernier, J. (2018). Identifying virtues and values through obituary data-
mining. The Journal of Value Inquiry, 52(1), 59-79. doi:10.1007/s10790-017-9602-0
Bassett, D. (2015). Who wants to live forever? living, dying and grieving in our digital society. Social
Sciences, 4(4), 1127-1139. doi:10.3390/socsci4041127
Crashcourse. (2016, December 05). Aristotle & Virtue Theory: Crash Course Philosophy #38 [Video
file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrvtOWEXDIQ
Crashcourse. (2016, November 28). Contractarianism: Crash Course Philosophy #37 [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Co6pNvd9mc
Crashcourse. (2016, November 21). Utilitarianism: Crash Course Philosophy #36 [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a739VjqdSI
Dignity. (n.d.). In English Oxford living dictionaries online. Retrieved from
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/dignity
Jebari, K. (2016). Should extinction be forever? Philosophy & Technology, 29(3), 211-222.
doi:10.1007/s13347-015-0208-9
Klass, D. (2006). Continuing conversation about continuing bonds. Death Studies, 30(9), 843-858.
doi:10.1080/07481180600886959
Llargues Asensio, J. M., Peralta, J., Arrabales, R., Bedia, M. G., Cortez, P., & Peña, A. L. (2014).
Artificial intelligence approaches for the generation and assessment of believable human-like
behaviour in virtual characters. Expert Systems with Applications, 41(16), 7281-7290.
doi:10.1016/j.eswa.2014.05.004
Moller, D., & Journal of Philosophy, I. (2007). Love and death. The Journal of Philosophy, 104(6),
301-316. doi:10.5840/jphil2007104621
Öhman, C., & Floridi, L. (2017). The political economy of death in the age of information: A critical
approach to the digital afterlife industry. Minds and Machines, 27(4), 639-662.
doi:10.1007/s11023-017-9445-2
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Santa Clara University, (2018, January 2018). An Ethics Case Study. AI, Death, and Mourning.
Retrieved from
https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/internet-ethics/resources/ai-death-and-mourning/
Scalzone, F., & Tamburrini, G. (2013). Human-robot interaction and psychoanalysis. Ai & Society,
28(3), 297-307. doi:10.1007/s00146-012-0413-3
Tavani, H. T. (2015). Ethics and technology. controversies, questions, and strategies for ethical
computing (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Wandke, H., Sengpiel, M., & Sönksen, M. (2012). Myths about older people's use of information and
communication technology. Gerontology, 58(6), 564-570. doi:10.1159/000339104
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Do not remove the following marking sheet.
Marking Sheet
Criteria Standards
Marks
awarde
d
Classical
Ethical
Theory
(Value
60%)
HD: Demonstrates an excellent ability at applying ethical theories to
the ethical issues. (51-60)
DI: Demonstrates a good ability at applying ethical theories to the
ethical issues. (45-50.4)
CR: Makes a genuine attempt at applying the ethical theories to the
ethical issues. (39-44.4)
PS: The ethical theories do not link well with the ethical issues. (30-
38.4)
FL: The ethical theories are not properly applied to the ethical issues.
(0-29.4)
Writing &
structure
(Value
20%)
HD: Language features and structures are used to convey meaning
effectively, concisely, unambiguously, and in a tone appropriate to the
audience and purpose with no spelling, grammatical, or punctuation
errors. (17-20)
DI: Well developed skills in expression & presentation of ideas. Fluent
writing style appropriate to assessment task/document type. Grammar
& spelling accurate. (15-16.8)
CR: Good skills in expression & clear presentation of ideas. Mostly
fluent writing style appropriate to assessment task/document type.
Grammar & spelling contains a few minor errors. (13-14.8)
PS: The text contains frequent errors in spelling, grammar, word
choice, and structure, lacks clarity, and is not concise, but the meaning
is apparent to the reader with some effort. (10-12.8)
FL: Rudimentary skills in expression & presentation of ideas. Not all
material is relevant &/or is presented in a disorganised manner.
Meaning apparent, but writing style not fluent or well organised.
Grammar & spelling contains many errors. (0-9.8)
Conclusion
(Value
10%)
HD: Superior conclusion that ties the results of the analysis together
into a coherent, logically valid & convincing argument. (8.5-10)
DI: Very high standard conclusion that ties the results of the analysis
together into a coherent, logically valid & convincing argument. (7.5-
8.4)
CR: High standard conclusion that ties the results of the analysis
together into a coherent, logically valid & convincing argument. (6.5-
7.4)
PS: Rudimentary conclusion that provides a convincing argument. (5-
6.4)
FL: Sub-standard (or no) conclusion. (0-4.9)
Referencing
(Value
10%)
HD: Referencing is comprehensive, demonstrates academic integrity,
and conforms exactly to APA style conventions. (8.5-10)
DI: Very good referencing, including reference list and citations. High
quality references. (7.5-8.4)
CR: Good referencing, including reference list and citations. Good
quality references. (6.5-7.4)
PS: Referencing is comprehensive, mostly accurate according to APA
style conventions, and demonstrates academic integrity. Some minor
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errors or omissions in style and formatting choices (e.g. italics,
punctuation, etc) don’t impact on the transparency and traceability of
the source, or demonstration of academic integrity. (5-6.4)
FL: Sub-standard (or no) referencing. Poor quality (or no) references.
(0-4.9)
Total
Marks
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